MrRhoads
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
- Messages
- 3,619
- Reaction score
- 247
Hello folks,
Some weeks ago i asked for tips with scalloping and now i´ve done it and here´s how i did it.
Click the images for larger ones.
1.
Checking how high the neck screws go into the neck so that i won´t file to much and expose them.
2.
Checking the trussrod height in comparison to the pickguard.
3.
Checking the sidedots height in comparison to the pickguard and they were higher up than the trussrod.
4.
Measuring to se how deep i´m gonna file down the wood and i decided to stay aprox 1mm above the sidedots.
Put masking tape along the neck to show how deep i could file
5.
The tools i used.
Wrench, 2 roudfiles (metall files), masking tape, exacto knife, kitchen towels to protect the neck from wrench pressure dents.
6.
Using a steep angle is not the way to go IMO, it creates a big dent in the middle between the frets and a causes the file to bounce and stop while moving it back and forth between the frets.
7.
Keeping the file leveled with the fretboard was a better method and not aplying much pressure just taking it easy and tipping the file to get both bass and treble sides of the neck and trying to stay with the fretboard radius.
8.
The 3 first frets have been filed and looking good.
By this time i discovered that masking tape is not so good since the files had gone throu it and made small dents in the frets but mostly on the side of the fret.
You can also let file go to each fret while filing and you´ll still have some untouched area besides each fret which is necessary if you wan´t to de a re-fret in the future.
9
Ok the entire fretboard filed and sandpapered.
About the 12th fret the back and forth motion with the file between the frets became tough and i´ve should have used some electric tape instead.
So at this point i hade to start moving the files more along the frets which was a little more tricky since the files were eager to slide sideways at first of each fret.
The whole process took about eight hours and i used 320 sandpapper to give the wood a nice smooth surface and it worked great on the frets as well clearing out any dent.
Please ask if you have any questions.
/Gustav
Some weeks ago i asked for tips with scalloping and now i´ve done it and here´s how i did it.
Click the images for larger ones.
1.
Checking how high the neck screws go into the neck so that i won´t file to much and expose them.
2.
Checking the trussrod height in comparison to the pickguard.
3.
Checking the sidedots height in comparison to the pickguard and they were higher up than the trussrod.
4.
Measuring to se how deep i´m gonna file down the wood and i decided to stay aprox 1mm above the sidedots.
Put masking tape along the neck to show how deep i could file
5.
The tools i used.
Wrench, 2 roudfiles (metall files), masking tape, exacto knife, kitchen towels to protect the neck from wrench pressure dents.
6.
Using a steep angle is not the way to go IMO, it creates a big dent in the middle between the frets and a causes the file to bounce and stop while moving it back and forth between the frets.
7.
Keeping the file leveled with the fretboard was a better method and not aplying much pressure just taking it easy and tipping the file to get both bass and treble sides of the neck and trying to stay with the fretboard radius.
8.
The 3 first frets have been filed and looking good.
By this time i discovered that masking tape is not so good since the files had gone throu it and made small dents in the frets but mostly on the side of the fret.
You can also let file go to each fret while filing and you´ll still have some untouched area besides each fret which is necessary if you wan´t to de a re-fret in the future.
9
Ok the entire fretboard filed and sandpapered.
About the 12th fret the back and forth motion with the file between the frets became tough and i´ve should have used some electric tape instead.
So at this point i hade to start moving the files more along the frets which was a little more tricky since the files were eager to slide sideways at first of each fret.
The whole process took about eight hours and i used 320 sandpapper to give the wood a nice smooth surface and it worked great on the frets as well clearing out any dent.
Please ask if you have any questions.
/Gustav
